1980 360 with a reringed bottom end. Stock heads with no work done to them.
What compression ratio? Is it verified? A stock 360 has a compression ratio of a whopping 8:1 or something. Nothing great going on there.
Stock dual plane intake. Comp 275deh camshaft. Converter only stalls to 2000 before it starts pushing through the brakes.
Cam sounds ok for the rest of your heads. Not to big. Converter doesn't sound to bad for that cam. Dual plane works well on these kind of setups.
600 cfm Holley vac secondary. Stock mopar ignition.
Carb sounds ok if it really is just a stock 360 that's been re-ringed. If you start putting bigger cam/head work into it. Then the carb will definitely need updating.
And 4.10 gears with 29 x 10.5W slicks.
Honestly that's a lot of tire to run on your setup. You're not making huge power (no offense). You could go with something shorter and thinner, less rotating mass=better power transmission. Go with bigger tires when you start to have traction issues. 4.10 gears are good. 4.56 would be better if this is going to be a dedicated track car. Make sure to match gear to tire size, so you trap right below max HP.
Ran a 15.18 today in the heat. First time at a 1/4 mile track. Dropped from a 9.3 1/8 mile to 9.6 in differences in weather and altitude. Budget was little to none when I was building it. Now I'm not impressed and I wanna go faster but budget is still little by little. can't go out and order a set of heads or nothing like that. Maybe $300 bucks a paycheck to blow on her. So the questions is what to buy and in what order. Not caged or anything but I wanna get to the index just before I need to cage her
Assuming a car weight of 3-3400 pounds. Your horsepower is in the area of 170-200. Not really a surprise on a stock bottom 360.
It's not so much a question of what to buy. As to what to do. I would do the following in this order:
Get compression up. You want your DCR (dynamic compression ratio) to be in the neighbourhood of 7.5:1 (more if you live at higher altitude). Match your static compression ratio to your cam to get your dynamic compression ratio up. This will greatly improve power, response, well everything really.
Head work. You would be AMAZED what some head work can do on iron heads. Get 2.02 intake valves put in. While they do that get them to clean up the entry into the bowl (greatly increases flow). Mill the heads to reach compression you want. It's not nearly as expensive as a full port job and will give you great power benefits.
Headers. Let it flow baby let it flow. 1-5/8 tubes into a 2-1/2 inch exhaust fits the bill nicely. As others have mentioned. But header's respond best with compression and head work.
Converter. A custom converter is always the best route. BUT in your situation, given your cam and what not. I would honestly think 2,000 is ok. You MIGHT need one after some changes if you're making enough power. But remember, 340's in their heyday had a converter very similar to yours if I recall. If you are looking to run fast enough to require a cage, you will need some serious changes. All of which would require a new converter. I would do the compression/heads/headers first. And see where you end up. If you want more at that point. Well then it's cam, porting, overbore/stroker, intake porting, carb, etc etc. After which you will need a new converter again. So you might wanna hold off till then. But up to you.
As for budget. Don't worry about it man. We all got our limits. Enjoy driving it! That's the fun part.
